Why kozhukkattai is Lord Ganesha’s favourite snack
Lord Ganesha is commonly called Modakpriya because of his love for modak/kozhukkattai. As the city gets ready for Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations, food blogger Kavitha Sankar talks about the reason why kozhukkattai is a favourite nivedhyam made in both north and south Indian households. “Firstly, I will share the reason why Lord Ganesha loves modaks. Once, Lord Ganesha went for lunch to a rishi’s house. He was offered a wide array of food items but wasn’t satisfied. Finally, rishi’s wife brought modak — rice dumplings filled with coconut and jaggery. Lord Ganesha ate one modak and let out a loud burp. Goddess Parvati expressed her wish that whoever wants to worship Lord Ganesha should offer modak,” says Kavitha Sankar.
Along with modak, devotees also offer black channa sundal, appam, payasam/kheer, vadai, sesame ladoo and fruits like wood apple, guava, banana and mainly sugarcane and corn. “Modak is sweet dumplings that are made with rice flour filled with grated coconut and jaggery and steamed. This is the basic and original form of a modak, but nowadays several exciting types of modaks are prepared by people across the country using their creativity to satiate Lord Ganesha. People are now experimenting with newer forms of fillings like replacing coconut and jaggery with dry fruits, sesame seeds and jaggery, chana dal and jaggery, sweet potato and jaggery, peanut and jaggery, paneer and mawa and so on. Some do variations to the out layer of modaks — instead of rice flour, they use rava, millets flour, flattened rice flour, dark chocolate, etc. You can also make pidi kozhukkattai and paal kozhukkattai which are also very famous offerings to Lord Ganesha during this festival. Pidi kozhukkattai is nothing but rice flour mixed with water, coconut and jaggery. It is cooked well and steamed — this is a simple version that takes very little time. Paal kozhukkatai is a traditional Chettinad cuisine — the rice dumpling is cooked in jaggery syrup along with coconut milk,” the chef shares with DT Next.